PhD Writing

How to write a scientific paper

Here are some tips for writing research papers:

A paper is a piece of argumentation

• A research paper (or a thesis) is an argumentation. Do not forget
  • the problem you address (typically expressed as a research question)
  • the definition of your model, including its key properties
  • the evaluation of the key properties of the model, through systematic evaluation and benchmark
  • discussion of contributions, scope, limitation AND open questions brought by your experimentations

A paper is written to be read

• Take care to make your point cristal clear for your readers
  • The title must name your contribution
  • The abstract must summarize contributions, scope and originality
• The outline must be sufficient to understand the point of your paper
  • For each figure
    • Make a readable Figure, with legend
    • Describe the figure in the main text, so as to make the point clear even without the graphics
    • Express the factual conclusions you draw from your results
    • And then discuss the impact these results have on the validation of your model.